Steven L. Peck's intriguing, literary narrative follows Gilda Trillim's many adventures; from her origins on a potato farm in Idaho, to an Orthodox Convent in the Soviet Union, to her life as a badminton champion... When Gilda is taken prisoner during the Vietnam war, she finds comfort in the company of the rats who cohabit her cell. Follow Gilda as she struggles to comprehend the meaning of life in this uncanny, philosophical novel which explores Mormonism, spirituality and what it means to be human. WINNER of Best Novel at the Association of Mormon Letters Awards 2017 Beautifully bizarre! I could not have taken this dizzying journey except for a master hand leading me through the surprising giggles into the even more surprising blessings of grace, wisdom and healing. I really don't think Gilda is fiction, for I fell in love with her, and as she and I both know, love is stunningly real. -- Carol Lynn Pearson, author of The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men You are one of the lucky few to be living on this very planet at a time when a physical copy of Gilda Trillim's wit and wisdom can be placed into your waiting hands. I envy the roller coaster of colorful images and wrenching emotions your mind is about to enjoy as you uncover Gilda's spunk and spontaneity as a one-handed naturalist who writes creatively, paints particularly, and has a wicked badminton return. Come with her as she susses out the meaning of love through engaging with potheads and fishheads and attempt to understand her wide-reaching philosophical musings that stretch across the cosmos and then constrict into the core of an appleseed. Even though you are not a rat (unless you are and then congratulations for getting your paws upon this scripture!) you will find much to learn about the universe and finding one's place within it. By willing the one-handed, full-hearted, and perhaps-insane Gilda Trillim into existence, Steven Peck again captures the wonder and failings of being human and the mystical connections between the natural and religious world that make life so delightfully complicated. -- Emily W Jensen, writer, blogger, and editor of A Book of Mormons What a mad, marvelous, and compulsively fascinating heroine Steven Peck has created in this novel - a woman who can spend a year painting pictures of an apple seed and write a novel describing the contents of a single drawer. By carefully scrutinizing these microcosmos of everyday life, Gilda Trillim (but really Steven Peck) starts to answer some of the biggest questions of all, like "Where did God come from?", "How do complex patterns emerge from random chaos?", and "Why does anything even exist at all? -- Michael Austin, author of Useful Fictions: Evolution, Anxiety, and the Origins of Literature Steven L. Peck is professor of Biology at Brigham Young University. He has published widely in academic journals, and has previously published two novels, a short story collection and a collection of speculative poetry. Peck lives in Pleasant Grove, Utah, USA. Gilda Trillim: Shepherdess of Rats By Steven L. Peck John Hunt Publishing Ltd. Copyright © 2016 Steven L. Peck All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78279-864-4 Contents Title Page of Katt's Thesis, 1, Thesis Preface, 2, Introduction, 6, Vignette 1: Gilda Trillim's Maternal Great-Grandfather Arnfinnur Skaldskapur, 11, Vignette 2: Letter to Babs Lake — On Winning the Uber Cup, May 1957, 15, Vignette 3: A Letter to Babs Lake on Relationships among Bottled Goods. Events Circa 1959, 24, Vignette 4: Some Documents Compiled from Writings about Her Stay in a Soviet Orthodox Convent. Events Circa 1961, 33, Vignette 5: Letter to Babs Lake about Her Studies in Junk Drawer Ecology. Events Circa 1964, 39, Vignette 6: Notes for Gilda's Novel Muskrat Trap. Letter Written September 1965 about Events Circa 1949 with a Note Added around 1986, 46, Vignette 7: Gilda's Reflections on Her Melancholy. Circa 1962, 59, Vignette 8: Letter from Babs Lake to Her Mother Mathilda Lake. June 1962, 62, Vignette 9: Trillim Cooks Emily Dickinson's Black Cake. Circa 1962, 70, Vignette 10: An Account of Gilda's Vision under the South American Hallucinatory Drug Ayahuasca. Circa 1966, 75, Vignette 11: Gilda's Poem My Turn on Earth. Written Circa 1951, 99, Vignette 12: Trillim's POW Experience in Vietnam. 1968-1970, 115, Vignette 13: Meditations at Apua Point, Big Island Hawaii. Circa 1972, 156, Vignette 14 Trillim in New York Notes. Circa Late 1972, 185, Vignette 15: Article from The Greenwich Peeper by Pseudonymous Author, 'Madam Alley Cat.' October 15, 1972, 187, Vignette 16: Interview with Reporter Dob Klingford, Published in The Paris Review. July 3, 1981, 194, Vignette 17: Gilda Writes an Event. Circa Summer 1983, 209, Vignette 18: Letter from Trillim to Babs Lake from Nairobi, Kenya where Gilda was Teaching a Short Course in Writing. August 12, 1988, 211, Vignette 19: Trillim's Reflection